News

San Ramon: Children's Hospital Oakland to open new specialty pediatric clinic at Bishop Ranch

By Joyce Tsai Contra Costa Times

Posted:
06/19/2014 05:49:15 AM PDT

Updated:
06/19/2014 05:49:23 AM PDT

SAN RAMON -- Tri-Valley residents who need more specialized pediatric care -- especially for their young athletes -- can get it close to home.

UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland will be opening a new specialty pediatric clinic at Bishop Ranch by the end of August. It also will feature orthopedics and a new Sports Medicine Center for Young Athletes that will focus on the treatment and prevention of sports injuries.

The organization plans to relocate its existing Pleasanton specialty pediatric clinic on Stoneridge Mall Road to the new 5,000 square-foot clinic site at Bishop Ranch Medical Center, approximately doubling its space and expanding its offerings, said Patricia Taggart, vice president for ambulatory services for Children's Hospital Oakland. The clinic will be made up of three buildings at 2301, 2303 and 2305 Camino Ramon, which is near a mix of other medical offices, including John Muir Urgent Care Center and the newly-opened Kaiser Permanente Medical Center.

"We're thrilled to be opening in the San Ramon-Tri-Valley area," she said. "It's centrally located, and Bishop Ranch is pretty well-known to those who live the I-580-to-680 corridor. And we want to make it convenient for families to get out there."

The new kid's clinic will offer the same wide range of specialties as its Pleasanton location: cardiology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, nephrology, neurology, psychiatry, pulmonary, surgery and ear-nose-and-throat care, as well as developmental and behavioral pediatrics, nutrition, and speech and language therapy. It also will feature a concussion clinic.

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About 10 staffers will be permanently housed at the clinic, and nearly all will come from the Pleasanton site, including clerical and medical assistants, speech and physical therapy staff, while about 10 to 20 different doctors will rotate in and out of the clinic every week, she said.

But the orthopedics and young athlete sports medicine center, which will include a 700 square-foot therapy gym are "the two things that will really set us apart from the other clinics," she said.

With the popularity of club sports in the Bay Area, kids are playing sports 12 months a year, and "we're definitely seeing more shoulder and elbow injuries from overhead throwing, from sports like baseball, football and volleyball," she said.

The center will provide physical therapy, sports performance and athletic training to care for young athletes, as well as injury prevention programs, such as Pilates, yoga, core strengthening and "tough-cuff" classes aimed toward curbing rotor cuff injuries.

"We're not just here to treat injuries, we want to prevent them too," she said.

Children's Hospital Oakland became officially affiliated with UCSF at the beginning of this year and changed its name last month.

Since UCSF already offers a similar pediatric clinic at ValleyCare Health System in Pleasanton, "we're not abandoning Pleasanton," she said, adding they're looking at what they might do in that ValleyCare location as well.

Alex Mehran Jr., CEO of Sunset Development, which owns and manages Bishop Ranch, said his company has seen a continuing rise in demand of medical providers wanting to come to Bishop Ranch, not just to serve office workers but families.

"And to have (UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital) come and plant their flag at Bishop Ranch is a huge statement about the people here and their desire to have quality health care," he said.